rump-cord

[Mark A Mandel]

For the record, I've posted the essence of Jan's and Jim's replies back
to the newsgroup in which I saw the expression:

        >>>

Subject: Re: song snippets for St. Patrick's Day
Newsgroups: rec.music.filk,alt.callahans
Followup-To: rec.music.filk,alt.callahans

In rec.music.filk Frank McCoy <mccoyf at millcomm.com> wrote:
: Mark A Mandel <mam at shell01.TheWorld.xxxx.invalid.com> wrote:

:>"Rump-cord"??
:>
: Don't ask *me*.
: I'm only quoting what I remember.
: That particular word stuck in my mind *all* these years ... and I've
: never seen it used elsewhere.  Still, at the time, it made sense to
: me.  Go figure.

I asked about this on the American Dialect Society discussion list
(http://www.americandialect.org) and so far have received two answers
that seem helpful. Here they are (omitting the senders' names for
privacy; I am copying this post back to that list):

        =====

1:

perhaps a mondegreen for "rip-cord", implying that the folk author
thought a "rip-cord" was something used to detonate explosives rather
than merely a device for opening a packed parachute.  Or perhaps the
author had actually seen up close what happens when the ripcord of a
parachute is pulled.  (I once saw some skydivers demonstrate indoors
what they do when they jump.  The result was the parachute and its
risers draped across the entire front of the classroom.  "Blew it all to
Hell/pieces" would be a mild exaggeration.)

Or perhaps "rump" for "rip" is deliberate.  I know of a version of that
song which goes:

   Lulu had a steamboat/ the steamboat had a bell
   Lulu went to Heaven / the steamboat went to
   Hello Operator / give me number nine
   And if you don't connect me / I'll stuff it up your
        [...]

        =================

2.

http://steamrailroading.com/tech/jargon.shtml  has:

PULL THE CALF'S TAIL = Yank the whistle cord

        =====

-- Dr. Whom, Consulting Linguist, Grammarian, Orthoepist, and
   Philological Busybody
   a.k.a. Mark A. Mandel